Switchblade for GX4000 (missing rasters?)

[Optimus]

I got switchblade for GX4000 today and had a big bad surprise. There are no sky raster colors, just a lame red.


I remember liking this game on the original CPC and how much more atmospheric it looks on the plus with the additional smooth sky gradient. I really wanted to see this on the real console. It's totally missing.
The rest of the game plays nicely though, it seems to be plus edition since there are additional colored crates and enemies with hardware sprites. I think the scoreboard colors are ok too.


What could it be?
Bad cartidge? (but game plays perfectly)
Faulty console? (I also tried other games, for example Crazy Cars 2 with the beautiful blue sky gradient and it's there)
Scart cable? (I just got one scart to scart from poundland, other games seem to be perfect, Burning Rubber, Robocop 2, etc)
Also tried the RF cable to see if there is difference, but the RF cable was problematic, screen jumping, I think out of the jumping I saw single red color, but you can't be sure)
And tried the scart on another older TV, still the same. The RF cable doesn't even work there though.


That's so so strange. If it was a bug/corruption of cart/hardware, so selective?

[TFM]

Are you sure that you didn't get a crappy bootleg? 

[arnoldemu]

I got switchblade for GX4000 today and had a big bad surprise. There are no sky raster colors, just a lame red.


I remember liking this game on the original CPC and how much more atmospheric it looks on the plus with the additional smooth sky gradient. I really wanted to see this on the real console. It's totally missing.
The rest of the game plays nicely though, it seems to be plus edition since there are additional colored crates and enemies with hardware sprites. I think the scoreboard colors are ok too.


What could it be?
Bad cartidge? (but game plays perfectly)
Faulty console? (I also tried other games, for example Crazy Cars 2 with the beautiful blue sky gradient and it's there)
Scart cable? (I just got one scart to scart from poundland, other games seem to be perfect, Burning Rubber, Robocop 2, etc)
Also tried the RF cable to see if there is difference, but the RF cable was problematic, screen jumping, I think out of the jumping I saw single red color, but you can't be sure)
And tried the scart on another older TV, still the same. The RF cable doesn't even work there though.


That's so so strange. If it was a bug/corruption of cart/hardware, so selective?

It may be an early version that was given with the Amstrad Cartridge Demonstrator. Some for this device are different. For example there are 2 known versions of Pang. One is the final released version and one which probably was inside an Amstrad CSD.

Any chance you could loan it to one of the Spanish guys to get it dumped?

EDIT: Is the label white with a "Code" printed on it with a normal printer?
If yes, then it's more likely to be a cartridge from an Amstrad Cartridge Demonstrator.

[redbox]

Could it be that he's playing it with 64kb RAM (GX4000) and some of the extra effects are 128kb RAM?

[gerald]

Could it be that he's playing it with 64kb RAM (GX4000) and some of the extra effects are 128kb RAM?

Raster is there on GX4000 with the available cpr file.
If this there is a new variant, it would be nice to make a dump of it

[Devilmarkus]

Could it be that he's playing it with 64kb RAM (GX4000) and some of the extra effects are 128kb RAM?

No...

[TFM]

Must be a bootleg then.   ...    Or the raster interrupt is screwed, asic has a problem.

[Optimus]

You are right, I just noticed the label is not professional, just a sticker with a name, I noticed for some of my other cartidges too.


I could hapilly send it to someone for dumping if you collect this stuff and then sent it back to me (because I still want to play the game

[arnoldemu]

You are right, I just noticed the label is not professional, just a sticker with a name, I noticed for some of my other cartidges too.


I could hapilly send it to someone for dumping if you collect this stuff and then sent it back to me (because I still want to play the game

I am about 90% confident it's not a bootleg, and 90% confident it's not your gx4000, but it's a early version that was put into a amstrad cartridge demonstrator to show what games would be available.

[Optimus]

Yeah it could be, but how do I identify whether it's a bootleg or not? It has the sticker with poorly typed text, not good logo. But yeah, could be a harsh sticker, just to put it on the early CSD.

[arnoldemu]

Yeah it could be, but how do I identify whether it's a bootleg or not? It has the sticker with poorly typed text, not good logo. But yeah, could be a harsh sticker, just to put it on the early CSD.

Only way I can think of is to check if the cartridge comes apart easily or if there is visible signs it has been glued.

The carts generally don't come apart without something breaking.

[dragon]

My klax is different to. The desmotration order is different from the final version, and maybe is not 100% complete who knows.


Not worry if you buy a bottleg, if you only want play the games in the console. Is fine, the games are very expensive complete, and its very difficult find all.

[arnoldemu]

My klax is different to. The desmotration order is different from the final version, and maybe is not 100% complete who knows.


Not worry if you buy a bottleg, if you only want play the games in the console. Is fine, the games are very expensive complete, and its very difficult find all.

Dragon have you got this dumped yet?

The CSD looks for a special sequence in the rom, if this is found then it has 3 modes of operation.
Normal, same operation when connected to GX4000.
Timed mode (where it plays for a short time and resets)
Auto mode (I'm guessing, but it may run through a timed auto sequence and reset).

[dragon]

Dragon have you got this dumped yet?

The CSD looks for a special sequence in the rom, if this is found then it has 3 modes of operation.
Normal, same operation when connected to GX4000.
Timed mode (where it plays for a short time and resets)
Auto mode (I'm guessing, but it may run through a timed auto sequence and reset).

No, because is the only klax i have . But its very easy buy one if you can dump it. I buy it in trade in post.

If you examine the klax dumped with a hex editor(or wordpad), you can see the version of the game at begging of the code. So is very easy compare them. The cpcmania dump version is "KLax  DOMARK 1990 J. Tripp ver:1.7 "

I was thinking,maybe can be a secret combination in the cartridge code to show the ver in screen. In the other hand i have switchblade bootleg, I can compare it with a "normal" version. And I have no exit csd version(from trade in post).

[arnoldemu]

No, because is the only klax i have . But its very easy buy one if you can dump it. I buy it in trade in post.

If you examine the klax dumped with a hex editor(or wordpad), you can see the version of the game at begging of the code. So is very easy compare them. The cpcmania dump version is "KLax  DOMARK 1990 J. Tripp ver:1.7 "

I was thinking,maybe can be a secret combination in the cartridge code to show the ver in screen. In the other hand i have switchblade bootleg, I can compare it with a "normal" version. And I have no exit csd version(from trade in post).

it would be good to have all these versions dumped.

[dragon]

it would be good to have all these versions dumped.

Yeah you are right.

The first screen in demo mode is the tree screen(cpc mania dump final game takenfrom winape).
The first screen in demo mode in my csd cartridge((Do089001) is the other taken directly in the gx4000).

The others next screen order are different.